Europe take charge on opening day
Click here for the live blog from the first session for all the latest news
PartyPoker.com Mosconi Cup XV
Europe 3-1 USA (first to 11)
1. Team match - Europe
5-3
USA
2. Feijen/Souquet
5-3 SVB/Morris
3. Mika Immonen
5-1
J. Jones
Drago/Gray
3-5
Strickland/Archer
MIKA Immonen banished his Mosconi Cup demons to inspire Europe into a lead on the opening day of the 2008 competition.
Immonen was playing in his first match in the tournament since throwing away a 4-1 lead against Mike Davis in 2006 to lose 5-4 in a match where Europe could have won the trophy before the event ended in a tie.
But Immonen showed his class on the first evening of this year's tournament by crushing Jeremy Jones 5-1 in the only singles encounter of the evening.
"I'm really delighted especially as my last personal memory of the Mosconi Cup was in 2006 when I screwed up an easy chance to win the cup," said Immonen. "It's about trying to redeem myself.
"When I came back it was a bit of history for me. Now seeing the other lads win it last year I was overjoyed about that and I really had to fight back to get on the team and I'm delighted to be back.
"The other guys made it easy for me as Niels and Ralf made a terrific comeback in the last match so that took a bit of pressure off.
"We can't be too happy yet as America are great fighters so we have to keep cool and do what we've been doing all year - winning matches.
"We've got a good crowd and they really help to boost your confidence so I'm looking forward to the next match. The crowd make a lot of noise and it feels good playing in front of your home crowd."
Europe won the first three matches of the evening before the American duo of Earl Strickland and Johnny Archer won the last point of the day.
"Being 4-0 down is not impossible to come back from but we had to win that match," admitted Archer. "I made a couple of bad positional mistakes but Earl got me back in it.
"It's great to play with him and it's fun. If you get him out of line he can still make the balls, it's an honour to play with him."
The World Cup of Pool winning duo of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris were involved in the first doubles match of the 2008 PartyPoker.com Mosconi Cup.
USA captain Nick Varner sent out the pairing that claimed the World Cup trophy in September, although it will be a clash of the heavyweights as the European pairing of Niels Feijen and Ralf Souquet triumphed 5-3.
The event, staged at the Hilton Hotel in Portomaso, Malta, began with a team competition where all five players on both sides will be in action and Europe won 5-3.
Date posted: December 11, 2008
